According to Marca, the Vicarage Road side offered around
£7m for the 22-year-old but the Spanish side swiftly turned it down.

Ghana-born Thomas, full name Thomas Teye Partey, has come
through the ranks at Atleti but has made just five La Liga appearances so far
this season.

Manager Diego Simeone, however, has high hopes for the
midfielder and is no mood to sell him having only recently started including
him in his first-team plans.

Thomas is happy to stay at the club and is under contract
until 2020 but that may not stop Watford from going back with an even higher
offer as they bid to maintain their impressive start to the season with New
Year reinforcements.